Migration Assistance ?

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I have a new system coming and would like to wait until I have an external attached to migrate over pics & music and not sure if I'll have one before I get my iMac.

My question: can you use the migration assistance after my initial setup or is it a one time process to use?
 
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From memory (it was 2012 when I last used MA) you have to run it on your brand new iMac. Do NOT create an account but run MA and it transfers all account data over. If you create an account and start using your iMac before runnig MA then it will mess things up.

Like I say, this may have changed in the years since I last ised it.
 
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It's not that you cannot run it later, but what will happen if you set up an account first and then run Migration Assistant is that it will create a new account and put the migrated files into that account, not into your new account. And from there you will have to log into that migrated account to copy over the files to the Shared portion of the drive and then from there to the new account you have created. All of that is required because of the way macOS handles security and ownership of files. If all you want to migrate are pictures and music, it may be better just to copy them over and not use MA at all. You can have the pictures and music on an external drive and just use Finder to copy / paste from the external directly into your new account. Migration Assistant is really useful when migrating applications as well as the data files because it moves everything about the application with it, including your history, etc. That's handy.
 
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Do you have the media saved on an external drive as files, or are you referring to a backup, clone, or current PC of some sort?
 
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KennyC
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Nickyr & Jake thanks for the tip and explanation on using MA. Will not create account until MA is finished.

Bob, music & photo's are files saved in folders. I also have them saved in folders on a Toshiba portable HD attached to my router. Kinda like my own cloud I guess. May be easier like Jake suggested to just manually move them over.

Question: when I had transfer files I was able to use a crossover network cable to transfer files from win box to another win box, could I do the same with iMac to win box or will I not be able to read them?
 

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